Antibody pantothenic acid

The synthesis of antibodies. Pantothenic acid stimulates the synthesis of those antibodies which increase resistance to pathogens. 

Pantothenic acid is vital for the release of energy from food, for healthy growth and for the production of antibodies. Pantothenic acid requires vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin B9 and vitamin B3 in order to function properly. 

Many different types of lesions have been observed (very often at autopsy) in animals suffering from severe pantothenic acid deficiency. These may involve the skin, the adrenals, the entire gastrointestinal tract, nerves, and spinal cord. Functionally, in chickens fertility may be reduced by pantothenic acid deficiency to practically zero64 without any outward signs being shown by the fowls. Recently, pantothenic acid deficiency has been found to produce duodenal ulcers in about 60 per cent of the rats tested.65 It is required for bone development66 and is implicated in antibody responses.67... 

Radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) procedures are no longer used for pantothenic acid determination because no commercially available antibody is available for these techniques. 

Morris, H.C., Finglas, P.M., Faulks, R.M., and Morgan, M.R.A., 1988. The development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the analysis of pantothenic acid and analogues. Part I production of antibodies and establishment of ELISA system. Journal of Micronutrient Analysis. 4 33 5. 

Panda, B. and Combs, G. F. (1963). Impaired antibody production in chicks fed diets low in vitamin A, pantothenic acid, or riboflavin. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol, d. 113 530-534. 

The following experiments were conducted in order to ascertain the effects of a pantothenic acid deficiency upon the various phases of the anamnestic response to diphtheria toxoid (Pruzansky and Axelrod, 1954). Pantothenic acid-deficient rats and their respective controls were immunized as described above. Three weeks later the antibody response to this primary injection was determined, and the rats were given a secondary injection of the toxoid. A week later, the anamnestic response to this secondary injection was determined. As previously noted, the antibody response to the primary injection of toxoid was very poor in the deficient rats in contrast with the good responses of the controls. No anamnestic response to the secondary injection was observed in the deficient rats, whereas the controls displayed a very marked anamnesis. An anamnestic response in the deficient rats could not be elicited despite the simultaneous administration of large amounts of pantothenic acid immediately following the secondary injection of toxoid. In contrast, the growth effect of the vitamin was immediate and profound. Thus, the deleterious... 

Table I summarizes the effects of the various deficiencies of the vitamin B complex upon the response to a variety of antigenic stimuli in different test animals. It is the reviewers opinion that, with the exception of the criticisms already made, this table represents the results of well-controlled, adequate experiments. It is quite apparent that the individual members of the vitamin B complex play a very important role in determining antibody response. Their absence may produce a marked impairment in antibody production. Generalizations on this subject are dangerous, but it would appear that pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, and folic acid deficiencies show the most consistent deleterious effects upon antibody production. It is also apparent that the effects of the individual deficiencies may vary widely depending upon the antigen employed.

Preliminary experiments in our laboratory have indicated a disturbance in the functional activity of splenic cells from pantothenic acid-deficient rats immunized with diphtheria toxoid. In studies conducted in collaboration with Dr. Abram Stavitsky it was shown that splenic cells from immunized pantothenic acid-deficient rats, in contrast to those from normal immunized rats, were unable to fabricate antibody when cultured in vitro or when passively transferred to normal rats. In co-operation with Dr. Cecile Leuchtenberger evidence was obtained that the mean deoxyribonucleic acid content of isolated splenic nuclei from immunized pantothenic acid-deficient rats was lower than that of comparable controls. Deoxyribonucleic acid was determined by microspectrophotometric analysis of the Feulgen reaction (Leuchtenberger et al, 1951). These results may be interpreted to mean that the deficiency interfered with the acceleration of cellular division which normally accompanies antibody production in the spleen. Since cellular division is always preceded by an increase in deoxyribonucleic acid content, the direct participation of pantothenic acid in deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis becomes an intriguing possibility. 

There is considerable basis for linking pyridoxine to amino acid metabolism, and the participation of this vitamin in antibody production may be related to such a function. However, in a recent review, Beaton et al. (1954) suggest that pyridoxine is not essential for protein synthesis or maintenance in the rat and that its effect on amino acid metabolism is of a secondary nature. A role for pantothenic acid in protein synthesis has not yet been demonstrated. A relationship between pantothenic acid and peptide bond formation is suggested by the observation of Chantrenne (1944) that coenzyme A, the coenzyme derivative of pantothenic acid, is... 

The possible functions of pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, or folic acid in the mechanisms involved in the release of antibody from their sites of formation were further investigated as follows (Ludovici et al., 1951b). Rats were immunized with human erythrocytes while on the deficient diets and their initial titers determined. Four days later the animals were injected intraperitoneally with the respective vitamin and maintained on an adequate control diet for the remainder of the experiment. Antibody titers were determined periodically thereafter. The effect of the... 

Splenic cells of pantothenic acid-deficient rats immunized with diphtheria toxoid contained considerably less antibody than cells from normal, immunized rats (Stavitsky et al., 1964). These results are further indication of the lack of any significant storage of preformed antibody in a deficiency state. 

Figure 2. Scatter Diagram Showing the Effect of a Pantothenic Acid Deficiency upon Antibody Response to Influenza Virus. Each Symbol Represents the litre of an Individual Rat, In All Figures Presented in This Paper, a Hemagglutination-inhibition Titre of Zero Indicates that a 1 20 Dilution of Serum Failed to Inhibit the Hemmagglutinating Potency of the Antigen, Used by Permission, from Axelrod and Hopper (1960). Copyright by the American Institute of Nutrition,...

Studies on the mechanism of action of pantothenic acid at the cellular level were conducted similarly to those described for pyridoxine deficiency and can be summarized as follows (Lederer et al., 1975) 1) a marked reduction in splenic antibody-forming... 

Investigations on the mode of action of pyridoxine and pantothenic acid have demonstrated a marked reduction in the production of antibody-forming cells following antigenic stimulation in both deficiency states. The metabolism of antigen appeared to be normal. However, these two vitamins seem to function at different loci in the development of the immune process. Whereas pyridoxine appears to be necessary for the production of units from serine... 

Axelrod, A. E, and Hopper, S. (1960) Effects of pantothenic acid, pyridoxine and thiamine deficiencies upon antibody formation to influenza virus PR-8 in rats, J. Nutr., 72 325. 

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